


of all the stupid things that i would do (to be near you)

by shatteredhourglass



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bathtubs, Cute, Established Relationship, M/M, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Oh you know, POV Bucky Barnes, Short & Sweet, these bitches in love!!! good for them, tub sharing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29430570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shatteredhourglass/pseuds/shatteredhourglass
Summary: “Clint’s not here,” Bucky answers, puzzled. “He left on a mission last week.”“I let him in last night,” Steve says. “At three in the morning. He didn’t come in to you?”
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Comments: 50
Kudos: 258
Collections: 2021 Winterhawk Valentine's Day Exchange





	of all the stupid things that i would do (to be near you)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crazycatt71](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazycatt71/gifts).



> Hope you like! Happy Valentine's Day.

“Morning,” Steve says when Bucky stumbles into the kitchen, grabbing for his mug and the coffeepot. “Sleep well?”

“Do I ever?” Bucky mutters.

He pours himself a full cup, getting as much liquid in as he can without any overflowing onto his fingers. Then it’s too high for him to pick up without spilling so he just leans down and sips the first few inches, ignoring the judgement he can feel from Steve’s direction. Bucky never judges him for doing dumb things.

(Yes he does, but it’s different.)

Once he’s gotten a fair amount of the coffee into his mouth from the mug, he refills it again and turns, heading for the safe haven of his bedroom. Maybe he’ll spend today catching up on what happened with Star Wars – he’d seen part of one during an assassination in 1983, but he’d never gotten the chance to figure out what the deal was with their oversized glowsticks.

“None for Clint?”

“Hrm?”

“Normally he’d kill you for not sharing,” Steve says, gesturing absently at Bucky’s mug.

“Clint’s not here,” Bucky answers, puzzled. “He left on a mission last week.”

“I let him in last night,” Steve says. “At three in the morning. He didn’t come in to you?”

“I haven’t even seen him,” Bucky says. “Are you _sure_ you didn’t imagine it?”

“I know what Clint looks like, Buck. It was late, he’d come straight from the hangar,” Steve replies.

Bucky frowns.

“Anyway, I’m going for a run. See you later.”

The front door closes behind him with a _click_.

Bucky’s left pondering the mystery of his disappearing boyfriend with not nearly enough coffee or sleep – goddamn nightmares – and no clue what the hell’s going on. He starts walking for his bedroom again in case he’s just failed to register Clint in his bed. The thought’s unlikely, and when he opens the door it’s to an empty room.

He prods the lump of sheets with his bare foot, just in case.

It doesn’t move.

Nope.

Maybe Clint had to leave again after all. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary (Kate moving to California has knocked him more off-balance than he’ll admit, and he goes running every time Kate so much as mentions a problem despite all his talk of letting her do her own thing) and Bucky’s more or less used to it, but Clint usually leaves a note or a text.

Bucky scoops up his phone, grimaces as the ‘battery empty’ signal blinks back at him. It’s completely dead. He’s left it off the charger all night again. Why can he remember things that happened in 1930 but he can’t remember to put a simple cord into a phone at night?

He tosses it back on the mattress, lets out a sigh.

It’s not fair that Clint was here and Bucky didn’t get to see him.

Well, he may as well go down to the gym and annoy Sam.

It’s a consolation prize and he knows it. Now he’s thinking about Clint he’s going to be moping all day. He puts the now-empty mug of coffee down on his bedside table and shuffles off in the direction of the bathroom, wondering if Steve hung the damn bathmat up like he was supposed to.

He opens the door and then stops.

“Never mind,” he says out loud, making the figure in the bathtub shift. “Looks like I owe Steve an apology.”

Clint’s sprawled out in all his long-limbed glory, still wearing his mission gear and there’s an imprint of the side of the bathtub on his cheek. “Hgh?”

“The hell are you doing in here? Did you get lost?”

“No,” Clint says, the word a little slurred. “’m here. Your place. Bath.”

Bucky’s half-tempted to turn the taps on him, honestly. “Uh huh. Now _why_ are you in my bath?”

“Didn’t want to wake you up,” Clint mumbles, rubbing at his eyes one-handed. He’s come back with less bandaids on him than usual. It’s a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

“What, you’re gonna sleep in the tub every time you come home at a weird hour? You _never_ get back at a reasonable time,” Bucky says. Sometimes he thinks it’s on purpose.

Clint blinks at him blearily, clearly not processing Bucky’s words. He wants to be mad that Clint never seems to look after himself, he _does_ , but Clint’s still sleepy and soft-looking and all Bucky really wants to do is hold onto him for the rest of forever. He gives up.

Bucky closes the bathroom door behind him and steps closer. Clint doesn’t move except to smile up at him like he’s just happy to be in Bucky’s presence. How’s he supposed to be mad at that face? Unbelievable. He needs a new boyfriend, one who isn’t as goddamn adorable. It’s fucking with him too heavily.

He starts stripping off Clint’s various holsters and weapons, letting out an amused huff when he finds one of his own knives tucked away in there. Annoying as hell _and_ a thief.

Clint lets him do it, his eyes falling closed for a moment. He looks like he’s a few seconds away from going to sleep again and Bucky’s not having that, not until he gets into a proper bed, so he prods Clint’s cheek until he blinks them open again.

“What if someone needs to use it? You gonna sleep on the toilet instead?”

“Maybe I will,” Clint says.

Bucky sighs and shakes his head, more to himself than at Clint, and leans down to tap Clint’s elbow. “You’re an idiot. Arms up, come on.”

“Hot,” Clint remarks dryly, but he lifts obediently and Bucky slides off his shirt, palming a nice handful of his skin along the way. The shirt gets hung over the sink absently and Bucky goes for his pants next, silently thankful that Clint had thought to take off his boots and socks before he’d gotten into the tub. “I’d get out the tub if you wanted to have sex, y’know.”

“We’re not having sex,” Bucky informs him. “And you’re staying right there.”

“Bossy,” Clint says, but he says it like maybe he doesn’t mind.

Clint’s underwear takes a little more effort to remove than the rest of his clothing, and Bucky tries not to laugh when he notices the tiny shield patterns on them. Amazing. Steve’d kick a shit if he saw those. He hates the dumb Captain America merchandise being sold up and down the streets.

“You good?”

“I’m good,” Clint answers absently.

Bucky turns the taps on him. It’d have more emphasis if Tony hadn’t ensured they’d have instantly heated water. As it is, the taps let out a steady trickle of warm water and Clint lets out a sigh, relaxes back against the porcelain. Bucky’s seen his body a thousand times now and he still lets his eyes roam over Clint’s form, all the tiny imperfections that he’s grown to treasure.

(Maybe not the long jagged scar on Clint’s hipbone that he’d caused one night in a panicked fit where he’d been convinced Hydra was here to collect him and take him back to the chair, but. The other ones, for sure.)

“I’m sorry,” Clint says, barely audible.

“Sorry?”

“You said in your last call that you’d been sleeping like shit,” Clint mumbles. “I came here on autopilot and I already knocked before I remembered again.”

Bucky tries to imagine Clint stumbling back home after a sleepless mission, spending hours piloting the Quinjet back so he could get home to Bucky, too exhausted to even go to his own bed. He’d only mentioned the nightmares once in passing, when Clint was up at mid-afternoon his time. How’d he even remembered that Bucky had complained about his sleep schedule at all?

“You’re allowed to be tired too,” Bucky says.

“Mm,” Clint answers, noncommittal. “How about some bubbles?”

“Don’t push your luck,” Bucky responds, pushing his own boxers down his legs and flicking them aside.

“Think I’m already the luckiest guy in the world,” Clint says with an understated little smile.

“Shut up,” Bucky says. “Sap.”

The water’s up as high as they can get it without spilling – god knows Bucky’s pushed his luck before and ended up slipping on the tiles – and he shuts off the water, ignoring Clint’s raised eyebrows. Clint’s relaxed enough to be pliable, so Bucky just shifts him around until there’s a nice space between his spread legs and then gets in as well.

There’s a million other things he should be doing but the only thing he really wants to do is sit in a bath with Clint and ignore the rest of the world.

“Hi,” Clint says, small and fond.

“Hi,” Bucky answers. “You’re a pain in my ass, you know that?”

“I know,” Clint says as Bucky settles against his chest, letting his cheek rest on Clint’s shoulder. It’s not comfortable, not really – he’s not up to the levels of muscle that Bucky himself has, but he’s still not _soft_ – but Bucky likes it anyway.

“I was sleeping like shit because _you_ weren’t here,” Bucky says.

“Oh,” Clint says. He doesn’t say anything else – unsurprising, he’s never been good at receiving affection, verbal or not – but one of his hands come up to rest in Bucky’s hair, stroking his thumb gentle down the back of Bucky’s neck.

Outside, a woman is yelling at her kids to get back inside. He probably should’ve closed the window. It’s a little late now though, and the only reason it’s bothering him is because his hearing is enhanced. He wonders what the world sounds like for Clint, whether it’s peaceful or just downright frightening.

“You gonna fall asleep here after judging me for it?”

“Maybe,” Bucky says. “Looks like you’re stuck here, pal.”

“There’s probably more comfortable places to do this.”

“You’re not in those places,” Bucky answers simply.

Clint presses a brief kiss to his hair and Bucky lets his lips lift in a smile, at peace with the world for once.

**Author's Note:**

> Title song: [I Would - Lower Than Atlantis ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5KIEbPavKk)


End file.
